Political commentator Michael Reagan told
Newsmax TV Thursday that the Republican presidential debate in Des Moines was "one of the best" so far because Donald Trump "was not in the room with his antics."
"Every one of the candidates was able to get their point across," Reagan, the eldest son of former President Ronald Reagan, told host J.D. Hayworth on the "Newsmax TV Post-Debate Special" in an interview.
"Do I think it's going to hurt Trump? Ultimately, it will hurt Trump because he didn't show up at the final debate before the caucus on Monday."
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He also attacked rivals Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum for attending Trump's rally to raise money for veteran's groups after their undercard debate.
Huckabee won Iowa in 2008 and Santorum four years ago.
"The last two caucus winners who went there to give credibility to Donald Trump were absolute fools," he said. "They're going nowhere.
"They're not going to win another caucus at all. They shouldn’t even be in the debates — and then to go and give credibility, or try to give credibility to Trump, Trump had to be laughing all the way back to his plane."
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